Sarah Healy clocks 1,500m personal best in stunning second-place finish in Paris Diamond League
Sarah Healy produced another stellar performance to break her personal best and finish second over 1,500m at the Paris Diamond League, the Dubliner clocking 3:57.02.
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Irish Independent
4 hours ago
- Irish Independent
Sarah Healy clocks 1,500m personal best in stunning second-place finish in Paris Diamond League
Sarah Healy produced another stellar performance to break her personal best and finish second over 1,500m at the Paris Diamond League, the Dubliner clocking 3:57.02.
Irish Times
4 hours ago
- Irish Times
Sarah Healy produces lifetime best to take second in 1,500m at Diamond League in Paris
Another terrific sprint finish by Sarah Healy saw her nail second place in the 1,500 metres at the Meeting de Paris on Friday night, improving her lifetime best to 3:57.15 in the process. On a perfect evening for running inside the Stade Charlety, the eighth stop on the Diamond League circuit, Healy might well have scored another victory too, as Kenya's Nelly Chepchirchir just held on for the win in 3:57.02. Just like she did in winning the European Indoor title over 3,000m last March, Healy bided her time over the last 150 metres, after holding sixth place at the bell. Entering the homestretch in third, she kicked past the top Ethiopian Birke Haylom, but just ran out of track when trying to run down Chepchirchir Healy's time improved her lifetime best of 3:57.46, clocked at the same meeting last year. Only Ciara Mageean's Irish record of 3:55.87 from 2023 is faster, and that may well come under threat before the summer is out. READ MORE It was only Healy's second outdoor 1,500m race this season, after she also produced a magnificent finishing kick to win the 1,500m at the Rome Diamond League a fortnight ago. The 24-year-old had already improved her 3,000m best to 8:27.02 in finishing third in the Rabat Diamond League last month. Haylom held on for third in 3:57.50, with Healy's training partner Georgia Hunter Bell sixth in 3:58.06. Mark English was also back on track just over a week after racing the 800m at the Oslo Diamond League, and the 32-year-old continued his rich vein of form over the distance with a sixth-place finish in 1:43.98 – breaking the 1:44-barrier for only the second time. English did get slightly boxed at the back after the first lap, in another stacked field of 13 runners, moving up five places in the last 200m. Victory on the night went to Mohamed Attaoui from Spain in 1:42.73, just ahead of Josh Hoey from the US, who clocked 1:43.00 – and like English is also coached by Justin Rinaldi. English broke the 1:44 barrier for the first time with his Irish record of 1:43.92 to take the win in Hengelo earlier this month, which smashed his previous Irish record of 1:44.34 which he set in Bydgoszcz, Poland last month. Although Rhasidat Adeleke wasn't racing in Paris, after back-to-back 400m races in Oslo and Stockholm where she finished fourth and sixth respectively, she'll no doubt have watched the Dominican Republic's Marileidy Paulino make her Diamond League season debut. Paulino produced a stunning victory and meeting record time of 48.81 seconds, improving the mark of 49.12 she set here two years ago. The Olympic champion finished strongest of all, getting past her old rival Salwa Eid Naser from Bahrain, second in the Olympics last summer, who clocked 48.85, with newcome Martina Weil from Chile also breaking 50 seconds to nail third in 49.83, a national record. Azeddine Habz also delighted the Paris crowd when winning the 1,500m in a French record of 3:27.49, the top-six all running sub-3:30. Jimmy Gressier followed that with a French record in the 5,000m, running 12:51.59 to finish fourth behind Yomif Kejelcha from Ethiopia, who won in 12:47.84. The World Championships in Tokyo may still be just under three months away, but times are fast heating up.
Irish Examiner
5 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
Sarah Healy breaks personal best to finish second in Paris Diamond League
Sarah Healy produced another stellar performance to break her personal best and finish second over 1500m at the Paris Diamond League on Friday night, the Dubliner clocking 3:57.02. Healy's previous best was the 3:57.46 she ran at the same meeting in Paris last July, but having finished seventh in that race, this marked another step forward in what has been a superb year to date. The race was won by Kenya's Nelly Chepchirchir in 3:57.02, with Birke Haylom of Ethiopia finishing third in 3:57.50 and Georgia Hunter Bell, the Olympic bronze medallist and a training partner of Healy's in Manchester, sixth in 3:58.06. The race was a messy one, with 17 athletes bunching over the opening laps as 800m was reached in a swift 2:05. Healy played a patient game and then coasted into contention for victory on the back straight, unleashing a strong finish on the inside to move into second in the closing metres. Having won European Indoor gold over 3000m in March, Healy has been in sparkling form through the early part of the outdoor season, finishing third at the Rabat Diamond League over 3000m and taking victory in Rome over 1500m. As the second fastest Irishwoman in history at 1500m, she will likely have Ciara Mageean's national record of 3:55.87 in her sights later in the summer. Elsewhere, Mark English produced the second fastest time of his career to again dip under 1:44 in the 800m, the 32-year-old Donegal man clocking 1:43.98 to finish sixth in a loaded field. With 13 men on the track, it was crowded at the break from lanes and English wisely chose to stay out of trouble and run at the back as the leaders passed 400m in a rapid 49.15 seconds. He began to creep through the field on the second lap, navigating heavy traffic, and turned in a typically strong last 100m to claw his way up to sixth place. The race was won by Spain's Mohamed Attaoui in 1:42.73, with English's occasional training partner Josh Hoey of the US second in 1:43.00. After winning his fifth European medal in Apeldoorn back in March, English came into the outdoor season in the form of his life, his run in Paris being his fifth time under 1:45 in the past four weeks. He will race in Ostrava, Czechia next Tuesday and then complete a spell of altitude training ahead of the London Diamond League on 19 July. English has broken his own Irish outdoor 800m record twice already this season, becoming the first Irishman to go under 1:44 when clocking 1:43.92 in Hengelo last week. He finished seventh at the Oslo Diamond League three days later and while the depth in the men's 800m is better than ever, he's hopeful this might be the year to reach his first global final. 'There's a faster time in me,' he said.
